Be the tree

Sometimes when I'm walking around my neighborhood praying and I'm in a dark place feeling troubled by the trials right in front of me, I look up at the trees.

Many of these tree's here are more than 200 years old, and they TOWER above the homes in our neighborhood. I take notes from them. I see their branches outstretched high to the heavens in praise to their creator God. Even in the dead of winter, when their leaves have loosened and fallen away months earlier, exposing their naked branches for all to see....those tree's don't waver in their praise. Their branches remain outstretched towards heaven boldly praising our Great God. They can withstand the long suffering months of winter with no Son/Sun to feed them.

When springtime is supposed to arrive in March bringing the warmth of the Sun/Son they have patiently waited for , they find themselves instead covered with grey storm clouds pregnant with frozen ice and snow falling from the sky with intentions to further weigh down their branches and bring hopelessness to them. The tree's look around and see other tree's fallen to the ground.... yet, their branches remain strong in their commitment to praising God. In the storm, a limb or two has ripped from them and fallen dead to the ground below. It doesn't matter, the remaining branches remain strong in their commitment to praising God. What do the trees know that we don't?

Do they know God? Do they know that the season won't last forever? Do they remember the green leaves and fruit they produced the summer before? Do they trust that the sun/Son will return to grow them and warm them and produce fruit and foliage in their branches again? Why are they so bold in their praise when storms and winter blow around them? Is there a reason God chose to hang on a tree in His death for us? The tree appears to be as bold as Christ was for us on that cross. Naked and withered in cold and darkness but committed to its cause.

So I thank God for creating the trees to encourage and remind me to lift my hands high up high and praise HIM in the cold dark seasons of my life in GREAT expectation and knowledge that this season won't last forever and I can praise Him in it. And those dead limbs that fall away "naturally" will only increase my bloom in the right season. So I wait, and I proclaim like the trees, that the Lord that created us both.Is.Good.